Sale in 1983. His dissertation focused on the work and life of Robert Frost, a hitherto understudied American poet at the time. The title of his dissertation, Robert Frost and the Opposing Lights of the Hour, received wide-praise for originality, and is recognized as a cornerstone of scholarship on Frost. The later publication of his dissertation with Peter Lang Publishing in 1984 was cited for Outstanding Scholarship in American Literature. Professional Life Wakefield was offered a position in the English department at the University of Washington as a full-time instructor upon completing his PhD. While doing so, he also worked part-time teaching composition at Central Washington University. Richard took a departure from academia when he was offered and accepted a position at Boeing Aerospace, working on NASA projects–including the Space Shuttle and what would become the International Space Station–in 1984. He continued to teach American Literature part-time at Central Washington University. He left Boeing in 1985 to return to full-time teaching. Shortly after he was hired as a full-time, tenure-track position at Tacoma Community College, where he continues to teach as a tenured Professor of Humanities. After taking the job at TCC, Wakefield and his wife relocated to Federal Way, WA. Even while teaching full-time and engaging in scholarship, poetry, and serving as a literary critic for the Seattle times, he continued to teach part-time at Central Washington University until 1991. In that same year he took a position as an adjunct Professor at the University of Washington Tacoma until 2011. He taught for two years in a faculty exchange program with The Evergreen State College, and two years as visiting faculty at The Bridge, a college outreach program in Tacoma’s Hilltop neighborhood. In 2000, Wakefield was selected for the Outstanding Faculty Award at Tacoma Community College. In addition to teaching a double-load, Wakefield started working for the Seattle Times as a literary and poetry critic from 1984 to 2012, publishing hundreds of reviews over his thirty-two years with the publisher. He also served as a contributing editor to Publishing Northwest throughout the 1980s. Over his career he has published hundreds of articles and contributing chapters in American Literature, Art, and Philosophy published in American Literature, Midwest Quarterly, Sewanee Review, The Robert Frost Review, the Journal of the Williams James Society, among many others. He currently serves as Poetry Editor of Able Muse starting in 2020. Alongside his academic publications,